The Ether Witch Volume 2

Eli frowned as she watched Tam walk away with the redheaded woman.

It wasn't Katarina. The woman was shorter and had wider hips than the Daxarian queen, and the shade of red in her hair was too light.

Her instincts prickled.

The first witch.

Eli's hand gripped into a fist as she set her jaw.

If Tam was going with her willingly, it was because there was a threat being made. Most likely to herself and the children.

Eli's eyes swept around the brush of the forest.

There were no ditches in this segment of the road, so no one could be hiding near the ground, which left the trees.

She moved her gaze upward. The foliage was thick, but a dark patch had Eli narrowing her eyes.

After a moment of staring she confirmed it was a cloak.

She slowly slid farther down the bench and leaned over Penelope to look out their window, her senses sharpened.

She was relatively certain she saw a boot toe on one branch, but couldn't see another archer.

"What's going on?" Luca asked, his wariness tinged with fear.

Eli remained quiet as she thought about how best to handle the situation.

It was obvious that if she tried to leave the carriage they would shoot at her and the children.

She released her fist and thrummed her fingers against her leg impatiently. If the first witch thought Tam was the devil, odds were she was about to try and kill him.

A seed of anxiety sprouted in Eli's belly.

"Mom?" Luca asked again, successfully pulling her from her thoughts.

Eli blinked herself back to the present and fixed Luca with her best calm stare. "There are dangerous men surrounding the carriage, and I'm trying to figure out how we can deal with them without getting any of us hurt."

Luca's eyes went wide as he looked at Penelope in a panic.

"Where's Tam?" the little girl asked, a frown drawing down her own features.

"He went off into the woods with the first witch, and I want to go get him and make sure he is safe," Eli explained evenly. "But I'm quite certain if we try to leave they will shoot… at… us…." An idea occurred to Eli.

A stupid one.

A desperate one.

But… she had a bad feeling about whatever was happening with Tam.

"Luca, Penelope… I'm going to try something," Eli began to say slowly. "But first, I'm going to close the carriage curtains. After that, you two are going to get onto the carriage floor. If you hear me say run, I want you to leave out my door here on my right, and scream. I also need your coats."

The children nodded, fear bright in their eyes.

"No matter what happens," Eli continued while forcing her voice to remain steady. "I want you two to stay calm. Remember, Penelope, you saw us have this baby, right?"

Penelope went still.

Eli's throat thickened.

The little girl's lips quivered. "I didn't see Tam when I saw the baby. The last part of Tam's future I saw was… Was when he found out about the baby."

"But it was his future you were looking into when you saw that it was a girl, right?"

Penelope's lips quivered. "N-No. I saw it was a girl when I held your hand on the boat coming back to Daxaria."

Shoving down her terror that was starting to spiral out of her control, Eli reached out and gently clasped Penelope's shoulder. "Everything will be alright."

The little girl had tears in her eyes, but she pressed her lips together stubbornly and removed her coat to hand to Eli.

Luca did the same, his face pale, then asked. "What are you going to do?"

Eli did her best to be discreet about taking a steadying breath as she moved over to the opposite bench.

"There are at least two archers in the trees. I think there is only one on my side of the carriage. There is a chance they have a crossbow that is able to fire three times in a row. If that is the case, I want to force him to reload before getting out, so I'm going to try and shield myself with the door, and throw the coats."

"They might not shoot if they see the coats!" Luca exclaimed, his breaths coming out rapidly.

"They might not," Eli agreed. "But if they don't, that will tell us they haven't been told to shoot us on sight."

Penelope audibly gulped.

Eli rested her hand atop the little girl's head. "I'm sorry to scare you, but you need to understand how serious this is. Now, Luca, pull down the curtains and huddle down as close to the middle as you can."

Trembling, the children obeyed.

Eli shifted over to the bench Tam had been sitting on mere moments earlier. The dark blue velvet was still warm from him.

Feeling this sparked anger in her. They had only wanted to live in peace, and some higher power thought they could sweep in and take him from her?

She lowered the curtains on her side of the carriage, tucked her feet up, ready to spring out and transform when the time was right. She had Luca's jacket balled up in her hand as she grasped the carriage handle, and pushed the door open.

She waited for an arrow to hit the door. Her nerves were humming.

Nothing happened.

She drew back her arm, about to toss the coat, when a shout sounded out from the trees.

"You take one step from that carriage and we shoot."

Luca and Penelope's panicked breath rose in volume.

Her grip on the coat tightened as she shouted back. "It's illegal to hurt a familiar."

She might have heard a sigh, but it might have also just been the wind.

She threw the coat.

Nothing happened.

Mentally she cursed.

She leaned forward, sending a prayer to the Gods, then launched out of the carriage, her familiar form bursting free.

The scent of the men in the trees flooded into her mind. There weren't two, there were three. She felt a stinging, throbbing pain in her wing that was tucked to her side, but otherwise her body remained fine. She wasted no time.

She leapt into the tree to her left where she smelled the man nearest her, the other two archers were on Luca and Penelope's side of the carriage.

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Eli loped easily up the tree, its boughs bending under her weight. She reached the archer in the span of two breaths, narrowly dodging another arrow he fired, and returned the sentiment by clamping her jaw down around his neck, his weapon falling uselessly to the ground.

Two other arrows were shot at her. Eli felt one graze her back, but she didn't have time to worry about it, she launched herself out of the tree, intending to soar over the carriage and latch onto the next tree infested with an archer, but she was too large, and too easy a target, and perhaps too panicked about the baby…

The next arrow grazed the side of her neck, and she plummeted atop the carriage, then rolled off onto the ground. She shuddered back into her human form, bringing herself up to her knees.

She hadn't been hurt like that in her beast form before.

With shaking hands she reached up to touch the side of her neck and discovered that her fingers came away red and sticky.

She heard the men clambering down their trees.

The children!

Eli turned to look in the open carriage door and saw Penelope and Luca trying to stifle their sobs as they stared at her.
A great shadow streaked over Eli, snapping her attention upward, even though it made her back twinge. She had another wound, but she had no time to think about that.

She caught the glint of gold over the trees…

Wixim.

Time stopped as a sudden, very calm thought claimed her.

Numbly, Eli reached with her stained fingers for the chain around her neck, and withdrew an item Wixim had given her long ago, and hoped there wasn't any fine print to what he said…

She blew the whistle.

She heard the men murmuring on the other side of the carriage.

"Kids get out here now!" Eli shouted, her hand coming to her middle, wondering if she had already done irreparable damage to her unborn.

Luca and Penelope sobbed as they fled the carriage to her extended arm. No sooner had they done this when a large gust of wind rushed over Eli's face. This miraculously cleared the haze of panic in her mind as she looked up at the dragon, right as the last two archers came from around the carriage and stared in confusion at the dragon's appearance.

Eli didn't bother looking at them as she met Wixim's green eyes.

She knew exactly what needed to be said. She straightened her shoulders. "These men have hurt a familiar. They have broken the divine law."

A low growl rolled in Wixim's throat, and the two archers paused, their expressions turning stony.

"You said before you would join our side if this law was broken and I am asking you to hold up your end of the deal or Gods help you I will curse you. I may not be a true witch but I will find a way."

Wixim stared at her for a long moment.

There was a rumble of thunder overhead, and a strong cool wind dropped the temperature even more than before, sending goosebumps rushing over Eli's arms.

Wixim swung his great head toward the archers, who each took a step back.

"No. I'll deal with them, go save Tam. He's in the woods with the first witch."

The look Wixim gave Eli suggested he was impressed.

He then turned, scrunched up his back, and shot into the woods on foot, his body moving as though it were fluid over the ground and into the distance.

Eli stood and pressed the children behind herself, her hand on her middle.

The men lifted their crossbows, but there was the flicker of uncertainty in their eyes.

Eli surged forward, her beast exploding out once more, and with one great swipe of her paw, sent the two men crashing into the body of the carriage.

Shifting back into her human form, Eli's knees buckled as her head spun.

She didn't know if her wounds were more serious than she had initially realized, or if the adrenaline she had been feeling before simply had started to wear off. She slumped against the carriage with the men at her feet, and tried to focus on breathing but her mouth felt terribly dry, and it was distracting.

There was a clatter on the ground. Eli cracked her eye open, then had to close it again, her vision had already started to turn dark.

"NO!"

She heard Luca shout. Only he sounded different than usual. He sounded angry…

Eli forced her eyes open, and tried to reach out her hand to catch him as she heard his footfalls nearing, but that was when she realized what had him upset. One of the men had his crossbow held up in trembling arms as he aimed at her.

Luca was beside her, and the look on his face was foreign. He stared down at the man, his face morphed with fury and disgust.

"I said no," Luca's voice was quiet when he spoke again, and that's when Eli realized dark wisps were emanating off his body in flickering waves. The man on the ground cowered and gave a horrified cry before wetting himself and falling unconscious.

Eli gently rested her hand on Luca's shoulder, only for him to flinch away from her. She saw tears in his eyes as he stared up at her. It was as though he were waiting for her to be livid, or frightened.

"Thank you for helping me, Luca," Eli said softly. "I'm sorry you had to do that."

Luca sniffled, his previous ire forgotten in an instant as tears started to overflow his eyes. "I don't like… I didn't want to… I'm sorry!"

Eli held out her arm and gestured him into herself.

He looked as though he doubted whether or not he deserved to be held, but his legs gave way and he threw his arms around Eli. She held him close to herself then looked over at Penelope who watched them looking frightened and stunned.

"Penelope?" Eli managed a weak smile. "Come here. I want to see that you're safe."

The little girl's movements were stiff, and she moved awkwardly, but when she reached Eli's side she threw her arms around her and Luca.

At first, Luca flinched at the feel of Penelope's embrace, but when he realized that she, too, was joining the hug, he adjusted his arm so that he was hugging her back.

"You saved me, and you saved the baby, Luca. Thank you. And I promise, you won't ever have to do that again if you don't want to."

Luca said nothing, and it was at that moment that another bellow of thunder shook the sky, which was followed by the crash of rain.

Eli looked upward, the cold droplets sending her into shivers immediately. "Let's get in the carriage everyone. Luca, make sure to grab your coat."

While the three of them piled back into the vehicle, Eli couldn't help but worry whether or not Wixim would reach Tam in time.

It was starting to become difficult to keep herself awake, as the pain in her back and neck began to throb, and she was feeling rather dizzy. Resting a hand on her abdomen, Eli sent one final prayer to the Goddess before allowing herself to fall unconscious, and it was a desperate plea that she and Tam hadn't been allowed happiness only for it to be taken away.